Birchwood students honour RCMP, veterans during ceremony

Grade 7 student Rosie MacQuarrie had mixed emotions about taking part in a ceremony Monday that honoured veterans and the three fallen Moncton RCMP officers.

“I feel very grateful that I could participate,” she said, but added she was sad for the RCMP officers recently killed.

MacQuarrie said it made her feel safe to know they gave up their lives to protect others.

Monday’s Charlottetown ceremony was part of Birchwood Intermediate School’s Operation Gratitude, which helped students give back to the community by doing good deeds for others.

Fifty-seven of the school’s Grade 7 students trailed a bagpiper, a cadet in full uniform and classmates carrying flags as they walked several blocks from Birchwood Intermediate to the cenotaph outside Province House.

Once there, they fanned out around the monument where six RCMP officers in red serge and two Charlottetown police officers in dress uniform stood at attention.

The ceremony lasted about 15 minutes and saw students place plaques and wreaths at the cenotaph’s base to honour veterans.

Three of the students took turns walking up to the cenotaph, alongside an RCMP officer, as they laid a rose for each of the Mounties who were shot and killed in Moncton.

Cole Jarvis was one of the other students involved in the ceremony and said it was part of the students’ efforts to step up in the community.